Improvement in perforating-stamps



' QSheetS--Sheeth c. s-cHnRTAIu. Perf'orating Stamps. N'o.153,458.4 PatentedJulyz,1874.

THE GRAPHIC C0. PHOTO'UTHSSIIH PARK PLACEJLY.

UNITED STATES PATENT EFICE.I

CARL SGHORTAU, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORATlNG-STAMPS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 153,458, dated July 23, 1874; application filed May 11, 1874.

To all whom it muy concern:

Be it known that I, CARL ScHoRTAU, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Perforating-Stamps; and I hereby declare the following to be a full and clear description of the same. y

The object of this invention is to construct a punch for marking bank-checks or other similar valuable written instruments with perforated numbers, in such a manner as to cause the paper tobe printed upon or numbered to be fed automatically through the machine. I am aware that machines for punching numbers upon papers of this description are already in use; but in such machines the difficulty of placing the paper in the machine in the proper position to receive the different consecutive figures that form the number is such as to render dithcult, if not practically impossible, the use of perforated numbers in this manner. It is to remedy this serious, if not fatal, defect in machines of this description that is the object of my invention.

The construction of my punch will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, of Which- Figure I is a front elevation. Fig. II is a top plan; Fig. III, a longitudinal central sectional elevation; and Fig. IV is a detailed view of the inside of the leg-piece, in which is located most of the operative parts of the automatic feed device.

rlhe fixed portions of the machine consist of a metallic bed-plate, A, and an overhanging arm, A, which is cast with and forms a part of the same piece as A. The bed-plate is provided with a transverse seat for a sliding` head, B, which is confined in place at its sides by the dovetailed ways c al, the last named of which is formed on the back edge of the table-plate c2. The said table-plate is securely fixed to the bed A, and its top surface should be polished. A slot in the central portion of this table-plate is occupied by the edge of the wheel C, the said wheel having its journalbearings in the spring-lever C', Aone end of which is fixed to the bed-plate `A, 'and the other end of the said lever passes through a slot in the side of the bed-plate, and terminates in a thumb-piece, c. When the sliding head is in position two stop-screws, c3, screwed into the bed-plate, prevent its sliding' out of its seat. The sliding head B has a vertical slot extending nearly its entire length, in which are placed side by side a series of plungers, b, on the bottom ends of which are secured a number of very small steel wires or punches, b1. The said steel punches are to be arranged in the form of the particular figure its plunger is intended to mark. Each particular plunger has its own separate spring b2, which is secured to the head B by the screw b3, the said spring being bent over a convex portion of the head-piece, which thereby forms a fulcrum for the spring, which acts as a lever, as shown in Fig. III; andas the extreme back end of the spring is separated a short distance from the piece B, the screw b3 may be set up more or less tightly, so as to give more or less stii'- ness to the spring, as required. The free end of the spring above described is engaged under a shoulder of the plunger b, which it throws up, this being the normal condition of the said plunger. A knob, b4, attached to one end of the head B, is used by the operator to take hold oi' to slide the head to the position required. A lever, D,is pivoted by the pin d to the outer end of the arm A', and a cam-surf face, all, as seen in Fig. III, is arranged to press on the top end of the particular plunger b that may be under it, and force it down as the operator presses down the end of the lever, by placing his hand on it at d2. The parts are so arranged that the top ends ofthe plungers b just slide easily under the cam 1.1, as the head is moved back and forth in its seat, when the lever D is thrown up. A hole in the bed-plate A, directly below the cam dl, permits the chips cut from the paper to fall below the table. The head B has two bottom plates, b5 and b, which are separated a sufiicient distance to permit the piece of paper to be operated upon to be easily pressed between them. When the plungers are drive-n down, as above described, the punches pass through apertures, which just it them, in both of the plates b5 and t6. When the plungers are thrown up the bottom ends ofthe punches do not pass below the bottom face of the plate b5; but when they are driven down they pass through or into the plate bs, and as they fit the apertures in the said plate with great nicety they cut a clean figure in the paper placed on the said plate bfi. Vays are planed through the overhanging part of the arm A to guide the top part of the sliding head B. A leg-piece, E, is screwed to` thefront end of the arm A' for the accommodation of the feeding device, which is clearly shown in Fig. IV. A feeding-wheel, e, having a corrugated periphery, is pivoted to the lower end of the leg E, and the parts are so arranged that when assembled the lower edge of the periphery of c will rest upon the top edge of the periphery ofthe wheel O, which, by means of its spring'- bearings, will be thrown up against e with a constant pressure. The Wheel c is formed of two pieces, which` are screwed together with a thin ratchet,y el, between them, as shown in the portion of Fig. l lV, in which a part of the front of c is broken. away to disclose el. Two grooves are constructed in E for the reception of the spring-pawl e2 and the dog e3, the latter of which is fulcrumed at c4 to E, and is thrown by the spring e5 against the teeth oi' the ratchet, so as to hold it in whatever position the pawl e2 may move it. The pawl e2 is thrown and held up in its normal condition by the coiled spring' e, and it is thrown down by means of the arm d3, which projects from-and is fixed to the lever D, the said arm being so arranged as to extend over and rest upon the end ofthe pawl e2 when the parts are assembled. U

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that whenever the lever D is thrown up the arm d3 will force the pawl c2 down, and so turn the ratchet el and its feedwheels e a certain distance, and by a proper adjustment of the parts the distance the 4periphery of e moves at one of these strokes is just equal to a proper distance which should be interposed between the centers of the iigures that are to be punched in the paper to be operated upon. A face-plate, F, on the front of the sliding head B is pierced with as many small holes as there are plungcrs b, and a spring-stop, F', which is attached to the legpiece E, is arranged to enter one of the holes in F, and stops the sliding head in just the proper position for the cam to rest over the top of the desired plunger. An' indicatorplate G, on which all of the figures or characters represented by the various plungers and their punches are marked, is fastened to the sliding head. B, and extends out in front of the leg-piece E, so as to be easily readable, as is shown in the plan in the drawings. A pointer, e", on the leg-piece is placed just over the indicator-plate, and the parts are so arranged as to have the figure or character of the plate G that falls below the pointer c7 represent exactly the same ligure or character that is under the cam of the lever at that moment.

Constructed as above described, the machine Vis operated as follows: The paper to be operated upon is inserted between the plates b5 and bG, in the position the numbering is desired to be begun, which must always be considered to be directly below the cam or central part of the lever D. The operator, in placing the paper in the machine, will place one hand on c and press down the lever operation of' the lever D, as above described,

will carry the paper with it between the said wheels C and e to the proper position for the next number. It will be noticed, by reference to Fig. III, that the pawl and ratchet areoperated with the upward motion of the lever D, and the plungers, with their punches, are operated with the downward stroke of the lever. So the paper is moved forward every time between the downstrokes of the plungers and their punches, sufficient time being allowed for the punches to rise above the paper before the arm d3 engages the pawl c2, and the forward stroke ofthe feed-motion commences. In order to get the gure or character the operator desires in position, he seizes the stop F and draws it forward, so as to free it from plate F; then takes hold of the knob b4 and slides the head B until the figure or character he desires, as represented on the indicatorplate G, falls below the pointer cT 5 then lets go the stop F', and permits it to engage the vhole in F until the lever D is-thrown down and the character is stamped or cut through the paper, and then moves the head to the next position desired, as shown by the indicator-plate, as before; meanwhile, the feed-inotion above described will have moved the paper the proper distance from the tirst position to receive the next impression, and so on indefinitely.

Having described my invention, what I claim is l. The lever D, having an arm, d3, in combination with pawl e2, ratchet el, and wheels c and G. g 2. The wheels C and e, ratchet el, pawl e2, and lever D, having cmu-surface d1 and arm d3, in combination with the horizontal sliding head B, plungers b, punches b1, springs b2, and plates b5 and b, automatically operated by the alternate motions of the lever D, as and for the purpose described.

G. SGHORTAU.

Witnesses:

FRANKLIN BARRITT, ANTON C. GRoNnAL. 

